Trio acquitted of manslaughter [1]
Friday, July 26, 2019 - 18:42
Three men who were acquitted of manslaughter, due to lack of evidence offered by the Crown, pleaded guilty to a lesser count of common assault in the death of a man in Pelehake, in 2017.
Peau La’iafi, Nivaleti Tu’iono and Sione Kapa’ivai were each charged with manslaughter, alternatively grievous bodily harm and in the alternative common assault in the death of Manu Grewe.
The background to the events was that on June 15, 2017 it came to the knowledge that the deceased had sexually assaulted the accused Tu'iono's young daughter.
Evidence revealed that the deceased had admitted the assault, and after a period of drinking together (the accused and deceased) at the home of Tu'iono, the atmosphere changed at about 2:00am.
Tu'iono started to assault the deceased by punching him on his face, although he said in his record of interview that the deceased shielded this blow but also to his chest and stomach while he was on the ground.
La'iafi then kicked him in the mouth with his boot, after asking him to apologize and slapped him several times on the face. After that Kapa'ivai punched him on the head and in the mouth and hit him on the head with a chair. He also said that he slammed the victim’s body around.
Lack of evidence
Hon Mr Justice Cato in a ruling on July 18 at the Supreme Court said all three elected trial by jury and the trial proceeded in a rather unorthodox manner as there was little evidence called in the case.
The Crown produced by consent a document called a summary of facts, and the officer in charge of the case was called to produce three records of interview, which were not objected to by the defence. By consent a pathologist's report was produced also.
He said, it appeared that the examining pathologist, who was unavailable to give evidence at trial, did not give any reason for the cause of the left pneumothorax and abrasions or the bruising or fractured mandible.
“Apparently, the assaults were not discussed with him and he wrote his brief report without any reference to the assaults on the accused, or how they may have contributed to the cause of death said to be asphyxiation secondary to aspiration,” said the judge.
Meanwhile, at trial the medical evidence was proposed to be given in terms of the original report by another pathologist, however shortly before the case was to resume, the Crown counsel advised the judge that he could not take the matter any further in terms of causation and thus would not proceed with the first count of manslaughter or grievous bodily harm, against any of the men.
“His difficulties in establishing causation had been made known to me on the afternoon earlier before we adjourned. I formed the view that consequently, the Crown would not be able to establish a prima facie case, on counts one and two against any of the accused and had prepared this ruling.”
“In addition, the Crown had not sought to place the case on the basis of a planned attack. Rather, he asserted that the attack involved a series of spontaneous assaults that arose over a short period of time. I agree with that approach. There was no evidence of planning,” he said.
The Crown counsel had stated early in the trial that he was unable to establish what injuries were attributable to an individual accused that led to this death.
"In any event on the view I have taken here each must be assessed on the issue of whether they made a material contribution to the death of Grewe. Because the Crown is unable to adduce evidence which at its highest is evidence from which a jury could infer that each man made a material contribution to the cause of death, I consider that no prima facie case had been established on counts one and two of manslaughter or grievous bodily harm."
The judge said his ruling coincided with the approach the Crown took in offering no further evidence on manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, which the accused were acquitted of.
However, each of the accused pleaded guilty to the third count of common assault and will be sentenced on a later date.